The group blog of twelve quiltmakers and textile artists scattered around the world in 8 countries and across four continents. Our aim is to create a small quilt every three months.
The theme is chosen by the members in turn.
Our website: www.12bythedozen.weebly.com

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Thursday, 28 February 2013

On going through all the pieces we have done so far I homed in on the one I did on "Seeing Red". This was not one of my favourites as I felt I did not quite interpret what I wanted to at the time. Therefore, I took the Baobab Tree and decided to bring it centre forward! I constructed the background and then finished it completely except for the binding. I then cut out a 12"square of brown paper and drew the tree onto the paper and scrumpled it up until it was very soft and pliable. Thereafter I sprayed it with adhesive glue and played with threads, string and pieces of mulberry tree bark until I was happy with the texture. When it was dry, I painted it with acrylic paints and when the paint was dry painted it with gel medium, when this was dry (quite a waiting process especially when you are raring to go onto the next stage) I cut the tree out and again spray glued the back and placed it onto my finished background and stitched it in place, as well as stitching the little little twigs at the end of the branches. I also used oil paint stick to take away the slightly flat look it had. I absolutely love these trees as they stand in majestic splendour like sentinals in the bushveld - they are so prehistoric looking and absolutely enormous, and really speak to me of the African Bushveld.

Ah ha - brown paper for the tree. A lovely textured tree in one of those glorious sunsets you get in South Africa. It's an iconic image.

One thing we learnt on a workshop last year was that you can scrunch the paper and paint/dye/whatever it (before or after scrunching) and then paint it with melted candle wax. Iron it between absorbent paper to get rid of the excess and it is wonderfully soft and almost translucent. I was really surprised at how good it was and not at all waxy.